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Tuesday, June 30, 2015

I know I am really lucky to have the opportunity to the visit the schools that I do and I am always so honored to see the connections the students have made with my work. It's because of this that I post so much about all my different visits!

But I admit the other reason why I continue to post about these visits is because I hope that by seeing other schools' projects it may help other schools with ideas on how they can integrate my books into the classroom. I've actually started using my Pinterest profile to this end, hoping that having images in one place (instead of having to scroll through on this blog) is even more helpful.

In the meantime, here are images from other school visits I did this past school year! These are all lumped together because I didn't take enough photos at each school to give them their own post but ALL the schools I visited were great! I just forget to take out the camera phone, sometimes...

Thursday, June 18, 2015

I (like all authors & illustrators) spend a lot of time alone writing and drawing and I always have to fight the small doubts that whisper: Does this matter? Will anyone care?

But, when I visit schools and meet the enthusiastic readers of my books those doubts are so, so happily squashed. The joy of seeing my books well-loved is really the fuel that makes my finish my books. Just the memory of it is like having a team cheering you on.

And one recent visit was particularly nourishing. Many years ago, I received a letter from a teacher, Felix Chen. It was so long ago, I don't even remember what he said or what I replied! But I do remember after hearing about my book-in-progress, he even sent me photos from his trips to Taiwan so that I could use for reference as well as telling me some of his humorous experiences there. It was so helpful that I thanked him in my book Dumpling Days:

I think he was the one who told me about the puppies in the vending machine at the night market!

For another collaborative project, one grade made the Village of Moon Rain:

Each student made their own hut, which they put together for the village:

complete with a mountain cave:

where Minli & Dragon hid! Do you see the well where the Green Tiger met his demise?

When I walked into the third grade classroom, I was a little surprised to see they were all playing board games. But when I looked closer, I saw they were all playing student-made games--all inspired by my books!

My favorite part of the program is that on one of the days, they bus in 4th graders from surrounding schools for a storytelling speed date!

Dozens of storytellers set up around the garden of a historic home and students, broken up into groups, go from one storyteller to the next for ten minute each (they hear from three different storytellers in total).

It's really amazing!

By the end, the kids are clamoring to tell their own stories--even telling them to each other as they walk to the bus.

But that was only part of the program. The other part was centered around the work of yours truly!

I thought this fish pond was a very creative idea!

kids decorated their own fish to put in the pond

And there were lots of dragons:

drawn dragons!

this one was created by kid-painted paper plates and streamers

this was made out of kids' handprints

hand prints decorated to make the scales

this one was hung so high that I'm not sure how they made it!

even origami dragons!

And speaking of origami, there were lots of paper crafts like:

lanterns!

and fortune cookies!

There was even a puppet show featuring my books (I'm hoping to get the script and make it available on my website for anyone interested):

dancing dim sum!

Dragon and Pacy!

Pacy's family!

After all this effort, I was relieved that a good crowd came to my talk:

I think it was a great event, though I really can't take too much credit for it. The kudos really go to all the hard-working librarians, administrators, volunteers!